After 8+ hours of downloads, installs, and updates I'm finally ready but having trouble logging into the server. I made a question topic about it on the support thread.

I'm also completely new to the game.

Hi there, and welcome! FFXI is a very old MMO and this server is deliberately old school as well so there's a big learning curve if you've played any Modern MMOs at all. When you get on, just about anyone can give you an item for a serverwide chat. But welcome!